BILLINGS, Mont. – Logan Forler took the entire 2020 season off to spend time with family. This weekend, he showed little rust in his return to sprint car racing as he visited victory lane, taking the ASCS Frontier Region main event at Big Sky Speedway.
The Boise, Idaho driver started on the pole and led most of the way aboard his family’s No. 2L Fisher-powered Maxim. Forler lost the lead to Helena, Montana’s Trever Kirkland, who won at Big Sky Speedway last August. Kirkland, however, lost the lead late in the race when he encountered steering problems with his machine with just a few laps to go. Forler regained the top spot and motored away from the field and took the win, backing up his second place effort at Gallatin Speedway on Friday.
For Kirkland, it was a heartbreaker for the second straight night as a similar misfortune happened on Friday at Gallatin, as he was leading that race with just a couple of laps to go as well. Instead of potentially scoring two wins, Kirkland came out empty handed despite having one of the dominate cars all weekend.
Forler’s win was his seventh with the ASCS Frontier Region and his second at Big Sky Speedway, that other win in Billings coming in June 2018. Before Friday’s race at Gallatin Speedway, Forler’s last time out was a September 2019 event in Yakima, Washington.
Billings driver Joe Perry held on to finish second in his family’s No. 28 S&S-powered Maxim despite an overheating motor late in the race, and Sturgis, South Dakota’s D.J. Brink came from the tenth starting position to finish third in the Brown Racing No. 38 Wesmar-powered Eagle. Friday night winner Kory Wermling of Great Falls, Montana backed up his first career ASCS Frontier Region victory by driving from the 16th starting position to finish fourth. Laurel, Montana’s Phil Dietz, fresh off a brief retirement, came from 12th to finish fifth.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Kirkland, Forler and Perry.
The next events for the Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series are Friday and Saturday, July 9th and 10th at Gallatin Speedway as the series is joined by the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour for the Grizzly Nationals. The series returns to Big Sky Speedway for a two night affair on Friday and Saturday, July 23rd and 24th before making its inaugural appearance at Sheridan Speedway in Sheridan, Wyoming.
ASCS Frontier Region
Big Sky Speedway
Billings, MT
June 12, 2021
21 cars
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Trever Kirkland[2]; 2. 38B-Bryan Brown[1]; 3. 77-Damon McCune[3]; 4. 5C-Channing Filler[5]; 5. 33T-Tyler Driever[7]; 6. 9K-Kory Wermling[6]; 7. 00B-Michael Bingham[4]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Logan Forler[6]; 2. 74U-Chauncey Filler[2]; 3. 38-DJ Brink[1]; 4. 72-Phil Dietz[3]; 5. 2-Shad Petersen[7]; 6. 2X-Mike Manwill[4]; 7. (DNS) 81-Darren Smith
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Joe Perry[1]; 2. 0J-Jeremy McCune[3]; 3. 11M-Mindy McCune[6]; 4. 18-Paul Jones[2]; 5. 11H-Heath Denney[4]; 6. 14-Madison Crowther[5]; 7. (DNS) 38C-Caleb Crowther
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 2L-Logan Forler[1]; 2. 28-Joe Perry[2]; 3. 38-DJ Brink[10]; 4. 9K-Kory Wermling[16]; 5. 72-Phil Dietz[12]; 6. 11M-Mindy McCune[3]; 7. 33T-Tyler Driever[11]; 8. 38B-Bryan Brown[5]; 9. 74U-Chauncey Filler[8]; 10. 0J-Jeremy McCune[6]; 11. 00B-Michael Bingham[19]; 12. 11H-Heath Denney[15]; 13. 14-Madison Crowther[17]; 14. 37-Trever Kirkland[4]; 15. 2X-Mike Manwill[18]; 16. 5C-Channing Filler[9]; 17. 2-Shad Petersen[14]; 18. 81-Darren Smith[20]; 19. 77-Damon McCune[7]; 20. 18-Paul Jones[13]; 21. 38C-Caleb Crowther[21]
